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Riders are simply special benefits added to the basic policy. There are several that are quite common. Waiver of premium riders for disability. This protects your policy from lapsing if you stop making money due to and injury. Spouse and child riders let you add coverage for the people you love without having to write a separate policy and often with very little extra underwriting. It is always good to talk with an agent about riders that are offered to see if they fit your particular situation and what the cost might be.

Strategically, we can use riders to accomplish several things. Marilee explained that. Here is one that works for me. One of the life insurance policies that I have has a long term care rider. What this does is make is so that if I need long term care, the death benefit becomes a living benefit that pays for expenses related to that. Take it one step further. One day we will buy true long term care coverage. But with the life/ltc policy in place, we have about one year's worth of benefit that is payable (and, yes, I can make that a longer period of time). That means that we can purchase the actual LTC with a one year waiting period vs a shorter waiting period. Doing it that way cuts the cost of the LTC plan dramatically. See how a rider on life insurance can lead to structuring LTC for less money out of pocket? And, if LTC is never needed, this permanent life insurance plan will pay a death benefit when I leave the planet. Sometimes, owning true LTC can have a drawback: we may never use it after years of paying for it. I know that one day I will use my life insurance, guaranteed. Living benefit riders are getting a lot of attention lately. You may want to take a closer look.

Riders are additional features you can add to your basic policy. Think of it as purchasing a car and adding extras to sale to enhance your ownership. Why would you want a rider? It would depend on what you want to happen in different situations. For example Waiver of Premium is a rider that kicks in during a period of disability that takes over payments towards your premiums while you're disabled. There is a small cost for that option. Terminal illness is another option that lets you take some of your death benefit while alive but terminally ill. Most times that is a free rider that has to be added at application. There are a bunch more depending on the company. But basically a rider is an added feature to improve your policy.